The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-06-27
INDIAN Land QUESTION.
TWO SIDES TO THE sEyERALTY
ACT OF CONGRESS.
The Opposition Preparing for Wig.
Orous Discusslnn aud Perhaps
for Case In the Courts.
lsPEsIAL TO TIE APPEAL,l

~ 4u,sbion 10 not YET settled. The seN
Is crafty act, which was hailed by man
70 as solution, will be carried into fec
II to certain extent and with a certai
- rspidity, but not rapidly nor immt
u diately. In the meantime the pressur
10 that will be brought to bear 10 enforc
- or not 10 enforce it, on the Presiden
l. directly, or through the Land Offic
L and the Interior Department, will 70
y long time make the Indian question
u an even more pressing and embsrrass
. Ing enc than 1t has ever been bsfore
And this pressure is already felt here
The latitude left by the law in IN,
matter OF the date OF its execution il
ny particular case, in fact PLACES tn,
ca ecutive branch Of the government
in q more embarrassing position thar
befea Q, and concentrates on IL the re
sponeA oility for the whole change con,
temphA ed in the Indians condition
and relM lions.
Under the provisions of the DIwef
act the 20 vernment may survey any
reservation Except nine, which are oc.
cupied by Il ldians who have made
most pYogress in civilized habits, and
divide it up in TO sections, town lots
and forty aero Il DTS. On the compile
ton of the survey the tribe upon the
lands is to be moth led that each head
of family may choose a quarter
section, and each un married adult an
eighty acre lot within four years, under
the penalty for neRle ct Of having a
government agent select 1t for him snd
force him upon it. When this is &C.
complished the occupants fee Is In
alienable for twenty-five years and he
himself becomes citizen of the United
States with standing in the Federal
courts, but at the cost to him OF all
the advantages OF his tribal relations,
including the long series OF treaty
rights which, under the policy OF the
government, have been acquired by
the tribs. In other words, under the
Dawes statute the Interior Department
may force the greater part oil the H.
dams to become citizens and laud
owners in simple fee, and may wage
exteI minating war on the old tribal
communism.
The inlereating point now is the
gradual array OF tue forces for aud
against the carrying OF the act into ex-
ecution. 1t is Certeiu the opposition
to it Is gaining boldnsss and volume.
Among the chief opponents Is DR..
T. A. Band, the Corresponding Sec
rotary OF the National Indian Defense
Association" here. He gives the H.
lowing waning ss TO the course his
association will pursue: against
this co srcive act we protest, and we
are resolved to make our protest in
the courts Of the United States, pro-
vded any Indlan tribes should ask US
to do 20. We have high legal author
ity for the opinion that the act lie un-
constitutional; hence we are hopeful
of success in the effort to defeat Its ex-
eCutiop."
The point OF antagonism is clearly
disclose in bit OF the legisla i've
history OF the bill. When the Dawes
bill was pending in the House of Rep
resentatives the Indian Defense asso.
citation induced the committee in
charge to add to 1t the amendment,
THAT this provisions OF this act shall
not apply to an Indian tribe until the |
consent Of majority of the adult |
male members of the tribe shall be |
first had and obtained" But when |
the bill was put upon its passage this
proviso vas stricken out at the solicit |
tation OF the Massachusetts Senator,
who said that it's adoption would de-
feat the object of his statute. Thus |
the isane between the friends and op.
ponents OF the Land Severslty act in |
clearly made. The latter spprehend |
that II tribe prote cted by treaties can
not preserve its reserved lands from |
the rapacily OF white men the in
divi lual Indian cannot keep his |
homestead.
Another opponent Of the law is
Gen. Armstrong, at the head OF the !
Indian school ut Hampton, Va. An
other is Gen. F. A. Walker, formerly
at the head Of the Census. Gen.
Walker has faid: "If this policy OF
land in severalty and citizenship
should be put in force before the In
dams are educated 30 as to intelligent
ly accept our form Of government and
our system OF holding lands, 1t would
be but few years bsfore the ajority |
of them would be in the con dition If |
the Rypsies Of the old world, but with
than the gypsies possess"
The point where legal contest s5
to the constitutionality, or at least as
to the righteousness of the law may
arise, is this: theoretically the In
dian policy Of the government has
been on Ike highest plan OF humanity,
and theoretically their land titles have |
always been respected. The four
earliest colonies OF New England were
as careful to extingulsh Indian land |
titles by purchase as William Penn was
30 much later in his more southern |
territory. Prof. Alexander Johnston,
OF Princeton College, has shown this
in volume on Connecticut Just from
the presa, and also has stated therein
that the General Court Of that COM
monwealth, as early as 1921, restricted
such purchases and began to create
inalienable reservations in order
to protect the Indians from the en-
tirs loss OF their lands. The way in
which the reservation scheme has
worked In Connecticut, and for that
matter in Maine, Rhode Island and
New York, illustrates what the oppo-
nents OF the bill expect will be the 10.
suit OF the Dawes act. In two reserva-
tons OF New London county 1889
acres were held in the middle OF this
century by forty three persons OF mon
grel descent, OF the Mohegans who
migrated to Oneida at the same time,
the tribe he'd dwindled to sixty souls,
holding 1900 acres. The present To-
dian popu alton OF Connecticut Is only
$50 persons OF mixed and debassd
blood, often pauper charge upon the
towns. Very early in this Indian his.
tory the colonies recognized the indie
pendence and sovereignty Of the
tribes, and when they discovered how
they were despoiied OF their lands,
they m ade them wards OF the govern
ment and compelled the whites to re-
spsct their treaty rights. Up to the
passage of the Dawes bill the same
policy has been uniformly pursued by
the United States. Theoretically, the
supreme motive to this tribal treaty
4